Wireless Power Consortium Pushing 'Qi' Standard

The Wireless Power Consortium, a group of companies including Samsung, Sanyo, Olympus, Philips and Texas Instruments, is pushing to have the latest specification of wireless inductive charging set as an industry standard. Qi, pronounced "chee", would become a standard similar to Wi-Fi or Buetooth, and the consortium plans to create a wireless charging pad that would be able to charge any device bearing the Qi logo. Version 0.95 of the spec notes that most devices can charge with just 5 watts of power when placed on such a pad. Based on the consortium's progress this year, the group expects to be able to deliver a final 1.0 specification soon, and will be demonstrating the technology in September. They chose Qi as the branding due to the Chinese concept of the flow of energy.